{ Absolutely gorgeous day }

Oh my friends, I know that a lot of you are still dealing with snow and horrid temperatures, and I feel almost bad posting about my day, because we have had the best weather for this time of year.

Woke up to sunny blue skies, the freshest of breezes and the highs for the day of 75 degrees.  It was pure magic and made me really wish for Spring and Summer.

{ Fort Worth Stockyards - Day Trip }

We have lived in Texas for the past 3 years, and had yet to make it to the Fort Worth Stockyards.

When my stepmother was visiting, she asked if we could take her to see the Stockyards, and we thought it was the perfect opportunity for us to finally make it down to Fort Worth.

It was a short day trip, actually more like a few hours trip, but it was so interesting and fun that we plan on returning with the kids, sometime in the next few weeks.

Day out with my loves

When we lived in Arizona, we used to go out and do family things, all the time.

We weren't spending a lot of money, but we lived right in the middle of Glendale and so close to shopping, restaurants, and all sorts of fun activity things, that we always had somewhere to go.

After Curt retired and we moved to Idaho, life became tough, in many ways.  The change alone of going from military active duty family to civilian family, is overwhelming.  When you throw in finances, trying to adjust, finding a new home and jobs and all that stuff, going out and doing fun things, suddenly takes a backseat.

Then we moved to Texas, and it was another adjustment, another financial burden, add in a lot of stress, family deaths, my daughter's fight with depression and anxiety, and it really just became all about surviving and getting from one week to the next, sometimes from day to day.

Picking Wildflowers and Canning

One of the joys of living in the country, is that we're surrounded by beautiful wildflowers.  They are everywhere, bringing pops of color here and there.

So when I want to bring some of that prettiness inside, all I need to do is step outside with a basket and some scissors.

As I gather flowers here and there, I watch the butterflies fluttering around, the bees buzzing around and the birds chirping as they fly from tree to tree, curious as to what I'm doing.

"Each flower is a soul opening out to nature."

- Gerald De Nerval

I now have various jars with the pretties pink, purple and yellow flowers, sitting on windowsills, coffee tables and shelves.

"To pick a flower is so much more satisfying than just observing it, or photographing it ... So in later years, I have grown in my garden as many flowers as possible for children to pick."

- Anne Scott-James 

Aside from the wildflower picking, I've also been in my kitchen, canning quite a bit.  I was blessed to find tomatoes at a very good price and since I was completely out of my tomato jam, I rolled up my sleeves and go to canning.

By the way, I've been asked a few times what the jam is like as I know it's not exactly something very common here in the States.  I think the closest I can maybe compare it too would be an Apple Butter kind of taste.  So if you like apple butter, you will most certainly enjoy it.

My daughter's boyfriend absolutely loves my tomato jam and goes through jars of it, like crazy.  I had promised him I would send him some next time I made it, so I made a few extra jars for him.  Or rather, I didn't, because Jasmine has been asking to learn and this was the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

She made a whole batch by herself and it came out beautiful and delicious too.  She was so proud of her jam, and I was proud of her for showing incentive and learning. I've often said that I want my children to learn my recipes, especially family ones that have been passed down from generation to generation.

It's so incredibly delicious, especially on toast with butter. 

I've also been busy with meal planning and bill paying and life in general.

As we get closer to Fall, life seems to take on a whole new routine.  Isn't it funny how there are season specific activities and chores?

For us, we're getting ready to harvest our pecans, which are pretty close to being completely ready.  We didn't get a harvest last year, but this year the 5 trees are filled, so I'm quite eager to get in there and harvest as much as we can before the squirrels and birds get to them.

One thing I plan on making this year, aside from the obligatory Pecan Pies for Thanksgiving, is Pecan Butter.  It is so good and I don't think it gets the attention and recognition it truly deserves.

We've also been chopping wood and getting our wood pile ready for the cold months ahead, I plan on using my central heating as little as possible, without freezing of course, but being in Texas that is not likely to happen anyway.

School is going well for Nicholas.  He is taking Sign Language this year and is loving every minute of it, I am too, to be honest.  It's fascinating and so interesting.  One of his first projects was to make a video of himself saying hello, fingerspelling his first and last name, saying that he is Hearing and then ending with Nice to Meet You.

We had some good laughs because he kept getting confused, or mixing up letters.  But it was such a cool project to do and we had a great time learning together.

Jasmine is still looking for work, she's put in for a lot of different places, but so far nothing has come up, which she is finding extremely frustrating.  She's decided to take a year off before going to college, as well as moving to Arkansas.

Curt is doing great at his work, he has his first class and is loving it too.  He really was born to teach, I believe.

I'm doing well, I'm just living and homemaking and caring for my husband and children.  Time goes by so fast and I honestly thought that as school started things would slow down a bit, but it's never the case is it?  There's always something to be done and before you know it, a whole week has whizzed by in the blink of an eye.

Yesterday we went to watch my nephew's first Freshman Football Game.  He is doing so well, and it's a big achievement coming from South Africa and now playing Football in High School.  So proud of him :)

You see my friends, even though I say that everything is so busy and time is going too fast, I try to live life to the absolute fullest, soaking in every second of every day, and making it all count.  It really is the only way to live.

I'm going to end this post by leaving you my grocery haul.  I've been asked quite a few times the past few months, to please continue with the grocery haul videos, and even though I usually don't have the time to do it because I basically get home and quickly need to get things put away before running back out for one thing or another......I had a pretty quiet morning today, so was able to record it for you.



If you enjoy it and would like to watch future hauls, be sure to subscribe to my Youtube channel.

Have a beautiful, restful blessed Friday night :)

{ A wee peek into my Sunday and a little Monday too }

I never got to show you how I spent my Sunday, by the time I settled into bed and snuggled up to my husband, it was quite late and I wasn't about to pull my laptop back out for anything.

I swear the minute I slide under the covers, it takes nothing but a miracle, someone on fire, the house caving in or the dog about to throw up, to get me back up.  Anyone else feel that way?

So, here I am, again quite late.  We were sitting in the living room, I was reading my book (almost done with it and starting to feel quite sad, actually), and my Nick and hubby were playing Mortal Kombat on the Xbox and have the time of their lives.

I stepped out back with Marley, took my book and sat at the patio table, just enjoyed the sound of the birds overhead and the wonderful evening air.  I was totally distracted {again, that distraction thing}, and didn't realize it was already 8PM.  Usually by this time I'm in bed.

But anyway, here I am, realizing that I didn't get my post up and I need to do that before going to bed.  I'm weird like that, if I have a certain post in mind, or pictures of a specific day, I need to get it up pretty quickly.  I could keep the pictures for another post, but then I don't feel like I'm staying true to my daily entries and it makes me feel out of whack.  I'm a nut case, there, I said it.

Sunday morning, I let Marley out and was in awe of the gorgeous sunrise happening right before my eyes.  It's not often that I'm able to capture the beauty of it, especially those long bright rays shooting up from the sun.

I always find that even the best photographs don't quite capture the real feeling you see with your own two eyes.  I mean, sure it comes pretty close but it is never really quite capable of showing the beauty in person.  Never mind that, I still continue to shoot and try to catch all those little things that I love about being alive.

We had another busy day of yard work.  It's a busy that makes us happy, if that even makes any sense.  Curt and I have been renting this house for the past 2 years and we have signed on another lease agreement for another 2 years, with the option to buy.  We want to buy it so badly, but we want to be smart about it and knock off some debt, before we take the leap.

Anyway, the work we've been doing around the yard, as hard and tiring as it is, it brings a smile to our faces because in essence we feel we are working towards our dream home.

Before we started the day, we sat down with the kids and had a really yummy breakfast.

Let me tell you something, it had been about 2 years since we had been able to do this.  It used to be our family tradition, every Sunday we would have bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy and omelets.  Then the kids got older, their sleeping schedules went completely out of whack and we never saw them before 3pm.

The past two weeks or so we've all been working hard to get them back into a normal schedule and it's finally working.

It was amazing sitting at the table at 8 in the morning enjoying one of our breakfasts.  Surely blessed and thankful for that.

I've been completely captivated by the Alpacas that have just moved in across the street.  I thought it was three that I had seen, but turns out there's 7.  How amazing is that?

I see myself taking a lot of pictures of these guys, just wish I could get closer, but I don't want to just haul myself with the camera in hand, across the street and start snapping pictures.  I don't know if the owner would be ok with that.

The Monarch butterflies have also been migrating and my yard is filled with these gorgeous creatures, fluttering about.

Sunday was spent mainly outside working, but today I got all the housework done and then had to run some errands.

I took Jasmine to base to pick up her prescriptions, because she's 18 years old now, I can't really do it for her unless I have her ID and information etc.  It just makes it easier to have her do it.

After the hospital we stopped over at the base library, and I have to tell you, it made me quite sad.  Most of the book shelves had been pushed all the way to the back of the library, I no longer could find the New Fiction books, all they had was one shelf of Juniors and Young Adults, a bunch of DVD's and a few cookbooks.

I grabbed one cookbook, that's it.

I felt quite defeated as I went to check it out and made a comment to the young girl there that I couldn't find the fiction books etc.  She told me that they are changing things around and matter of fact, they're trying to go pretty much all digital and make room for more DVDs and such.

How sad is that?  It makes me wonder what is going to happen to all the libraries in the next few years.  I'm all for technology and digital, I love my Kindle, but nothing will ever come near an actual book in your hands.  I was quite shocked at what she said.

The book is chock full of delicious looking recipes, but again, quite sad that I walked out with 1 book where before, my library trips almost always ended with me walking out with a bag or two of books.

I got all the bedding washed and hung out to dry, did the usual cleaning and cooking, watered the plants and so on, and then sat and finished Part 2 of my Sweet Caroline.  It's looking gorgeous, and it's not the usual colors I would go for, but together, they are creating quite a visually stunning pillow.

There is just 3 parts to this mini CAL, so Friday we will get the final part and be done with this pillow, though it's quite a big pillow. 

Alright ladies, I am going to end this here, shut this laptop off and watch a little bit of Everybody Loves Raymond with the hubster, before calling it a night.

{ The Alpacas have moved in }

My Saturday started much the same as any other day, with some cleaning, tidying, laundry and getting things ready for some mowing out back.

Around 10:30, Curt and I headed out to pick up a few things, mainly we needed some weed killer and wasp killer as well.  The wasps have been relentless around here and even though we get rid of all their nests, within a day there's wasps flying about looking to start another.  It's frustrating, and it doesn't really make us want to stay out there in the garden.

Our first stop was at The Tractor Supply, which since moving to Texas, has become one of our favorite places to pop in on a Saturday morning.  We grabbed both the weed and the wasp killer and then decided to go by Walmart to see what they had in the garden center.

Some of their plants and herbs were on sale, so I immediately grabbed some Basil because I LOVE it so much.  I think it's one of my most used herbs and there is nothing like fresh basil on a homemade pasta sauce.

I had that old bucket sitting around and thought the basil would look gorgeous in it, so Curt drilled some holes on the bottom for drainage and I planted it in there.  I will show you tomorrow what it looks like.

We also grabbed two Aloe Plants.

When we lived in Arizona, we had a few in the house, and we used them quite often for sunburn or even the occasional burn while cooking.

We had them for quite a few years and they even made the trip from Arizona to Idaho when Curt retired, but the long trip, and the moving around in the two years we were in Idaho, must have just been too much for them.  They didn't survive to make it to Texas with us.

We've missed having Aloe around since then so finally got these two.

Back at home, I popped some pizza in the oven, got the kitchen all cleaned up and got the plants and herbs into their respective pots.  Oh I picked up some sweet peppermint too, but totally forgot to photograph it.  I'll have to show you all the plants tomorrow :)

Then we noticed all the commotion going on across the street.  A few weeks ago I mentioned this house that has been vacant, and then had a couple of people buy it and move out right away.  We often joked amongst us that it must be haunted.

Remember I even took pictures of the fire trucks outside, when the new owner tried to burn some branches?

Well let me tell you, she is determined to get this property looking like new again, and she's been hard at work.  Hadn't seen this house and it's yards looking as good as they are starting to.

They've been hard at work for weeks, and today, this tractor worked for hours on end, from morning to about 6pm, clearing tons of grass, weeds, and other overgrown vegetation which was about as high as the tractor itself, if not higher.  No one has ever mowed the property in the 2 years we've been in this house.

But what we did notice that got me quite excited, was that they have Alpacas, 3 big ones.  They are so cute, and I'm hoping to be able to capture some great photos.

For now, I'm enjoying watching the progress as this property comes to life, and I really am wondering what she's going to do with the acreage she has.

While sitting out front watching the Alpacas and the mowing, I also enjoyed the different animals that call my garden their home.  Like this cool looking grasshopper, and the beautiful butterfly just fluttering around.

I came back in after a while and got right to dinner making.  One of our favorites and easiest meals ever to prepare.  Corned Beef Hash and we had some mixed veggies to go with it.

I did have a bit of a craving for something sweet, so quickly threw together a Coffee Cake.  It's one of those recipes that are quick to throw together but taste like a million dollars.

The recipe will be up on the food blog tomorrow and I'll share the link with you, don't worry.  But for now, you can go ahead and drool over the picture, just be sure to wipe the monitor off when you're done.  Haha

I ended off my night with a few rounds on Part 2 of the Sweet Caroline Pillow.  It's a great way to relax after a long busy day.

I didn't get to watch much on TV today, though I did catch one episode of Game of Thrones.  Would you believe me if I told you I have only watched Season 1?  Curt hadn't watched it at all either, but got completely caught up to the latest season a few weeks ago.  He is now waiting for me and we're going to let the new season finish up, then binge watch it together.

I just wish I had more time in the day to watch things, I feel like more often than not, it takes me a whole day to get through one single episode, because of the constant interruptions.

Anyway, that was my Saturday.  I don't have anything planned for tomorrow, other than we want to get the small flower bed cleared out and the mulch in, we didn't get around to it today.

Well the yawning has set in and I think that's my cue to get to bed.  It's quite pathetic that I'm falling asleep at 9:30pm on a Saturday night, but in my defense, I do get up early every day, even on weekends, I've never been one to sleep in.

I'm heading to bed before I fall asleep at the computer.  Good night :)

{ Crepe Myrtles in Bloom }

One of the things that I have always loved about this house, is the big yards, all the trees, flowers, and birds, you know, the fact that we're surrounded by nature.

When this time of the year comes around, the yards come alive with big splashes of pinks.

I had no clue what they were when I first saw them, I just knew that they were absolutely gorgeous, but that's where trusty google came in and I researched and found out they were Crepe Myrtles. 

There are also tons of flowers popping up all over.  I don't know, it just makes me so happy seeing all the green and different colors abound.  It's really pretty.

Tomorrow I'm going to snip down a few of the flowers to bring inside.  I always pop some in mason jars and put at least one in every room.  I count myself blessed to have such beauty around me and to be living where I want to, and kind of always dreamed of.  Ok minus the farm animals, and the actual farm, but pretty close :)

I'm still pretty shocked at how much I love Texas.  I remember hating it so much the first time I visited and swearing that I would never, ever, live in Texas.  Boy, God must have been laughing at me up there knowing what was coming my way.  Haha

I feel at home.  Truly at home!

I think from all the States I lived in, Texas has felt the most like where I belong, though I miss Arizona.  Again, I knowwwww.  You must be shocked because I couldn't wait to get out of there and was very unhappy at first. 

I've often felt that I've been put in certain situations because I need to learn a lesson, and I don't always realize that at first, so I fight it and I complain and stomp my foot and go on and on about poor me and how I hate where I am.

I don't feel like I give it a real chance because I'm so busy disliking it and finding fault with it.  I've since then learned to just go with the flow, not make any sort of decision about it until I've lived it, experienced it and gave it a real chance.

When Curt first got this job in Texas I started laughing and I remember vividly, sitting across from him and saying "You're kidding me right?  We hate Texas!". 

But I consciously decided NOT to make a big stink about it and to just accept it and go from there.  I got excited for the move, I looked forward to being in a new State and new city and trying new things.

I think that did the trick because the minute I drove into into Texas, I fell in love.  It was almost like I had been holding my breath for years and finally let it out.

I love everything about it now.  I love our house, and the acreage around it.  I love the weather, I love people and the fact that everyone says "Have a blessed day".  And police cars all have "In God We Trust" written on them.

It's really where I want to be and where I feel comfortable.  It's home.  If you were to ask me where home is in America for me, I'll proudly reply "Texas".